Keeping the classics alive: how archivists are preserving video game history
There’s no shortage of ways to play classic games. There are subscription services, robust retro collections, and modern hardware designed to play old titles. But even still, large swaths of video game history are disappearing. Researchers say that almost 90 percent of games made before 2010 are “critically endangered.” But archivists around the world are finding ways to preserve that history, whether it’s museums releasing translations of classic adventure games or developers racing to release their games on new platforms after others shut down. Collected here is a selection of stories that explore different ways fans, researchers, and archivists are ensuring classic games are kept alive for future generations.
- Now you can check out this video game history museum online
- Dino Crisis launches on PC as GOG adds new tool to bring back more classics
- GOG’s new preservation program intends to keep classic games playable ‘forever’
- Video game preservationists have lost a legal fight to study games remotely
- Spellbreak lives.
- Survival horror classics, sans DRM.
- An excellent retro collection gets even better.
- One fan spent three years saving a Final Fantasy game before it shut down
- Another cool piece of Limited Run Games history.
- Felix the Cat and Sparkster are back.
- Jeff Minter is getting a playable documentary.
- PlayStation keeps reminding us why digital ownership sucks
- Atari 50 is getting a big update.
- The fight to save old video games
- Atari is buying the developer behind its excellent 50th anniversary retro compilation
- The Portland Retro Gaming Expo helps keep the classics alive
- Another Stadia exclusive just ate a Power Pellet.
- A fun way to support video game preservation.
- The original Wizardry has been remastered — and you can play it right now
- Digital Eclipse is preserving classic games in the most entertaining way possible
- Almost 90 percent of classic games are ‘critically endangered,’ say archivists
- The quest to save a Stadia exclusive
- Atari 50 is an incredible playable tour through video game history
- Two never-published NES games are up for auction on eBay
- The ticking time bomb of modern free-to-play games
- Habitat for humanity: how a classic MMO got a second life
- Inside the fight to save video game history
- How a design museum unearthed a treasure trove of classic Slovak games
- Clockwork Aquario brings a long-lost arcade game back to life
- Archivists are trying to chronicle Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ unforgettable first year
- A new way to think about your favorite game’s code
- An unprecedented Nintendo leak turns into a moral dilemma for archivists
- Analogue’s console clones are a way to preserve gaming’s past
- Unearthing Hardcore, DICE’s long-lost Sega Genesis shooter
- EVE, offline: how do you archive a universe?